Asset Servicing

Historically, US smallcaps have outperformed their European peers, with a difference of about 1.5 percent to 2.5 percent over 5-, 10- and 15-year periods, depending on the timeframe. In the first seven months of 2025, however, the situation has been reversed.

Family officers serving wealthy Belgian families often prove more willing to take risks than their clients. Aligning perspectives usually requires careful techniques, according to research by Sam Bossuyt at Ghent University.

This week’s overview of people transfers and appointments includes updates from Allianz Global Investors, A&O Shearman, State Street, Titanbay, and other firms.

In 1996 I came across Cisco’s annual report, which included a CD-ROM presentation by CEO John Chambers titled The internetworking takes off. At that point, there was absolutely no sign of a dot-com hype, though Alan Greenspan thought otherwise in his irrational exuberance speech of December 1996.

A deal struck at the G7 summit in June has given American multinationals a way around rules billed as a milestone in the global fight against corporate tax avoidance.

Bitcoin Treasury Companies, firms that hold billions of dollars in bitcoin on their balance sheets, are crossing over to Europe. This raises the risk that passive investments, via index funds, could be funneled into one of the most volatile corners of the market.

Some countries are adopting a position of active non-alignment (ANA). What exactly does this mean, what are the economic consequences, and how are some ASEAN and BRICS countries putting it into practice?

Bitcoin Treasury Companies, firms that hold billions of dollars in bitcoin on their balance sheets, are crossing over to Europe. This raises the risk that passive investments, via index funds, could be funneled into one of the most volatile corners of the market.

Recently, Donald Trump urged Goldman Sachs to fire its chief economist. According to the president, he was completely off with his unwelcome forecasts about the effects of the trade war on US inflation. This raises the question of how independent economists at commercial financial institutions really are.

In recent years, global equity markets have been driven by the performance of largecaps, particularly in the technology sector, leaving smallcaps behind. That was the case in 2024, for example, when the Morningstar Global TME Index gained 25 percent while the Morningstar Global Small TME Index managed only a 16 percent increase.